Italian-Belgian Blog Friend Meet-Up!

I've been blogging for seven years now, and I've been very lucky to find a group of lovely, like-minded fellow bloggers all over the world, who really feel like friends.   As Andrea recently mentioned on her blog, the frequency of posting and commenting seems to ebb and flow as people's lives naturally evolve, but the warm feelings for blog friends remain.

And so I was tickled when the blogger you all know as the Black Knight contacted me to say he'd be in Belgium for work and hoped to meet up.  I've only ever had the chance to meet up with one other blog friend, Fran - we actually got together twice and one of them was for a race in 2011 - but it was such a neat experience,  I was very much looking forward to meeting Stefano.

As things eventually worked out, I met up with Stefano (and his colleague who helpfully took our picture) at the airport a few hours before their flight back to Rome.

The funny thing about meeting a blog friend, and I had the same experience when I met Fran, is that you feel like you know so much about the person, having read their blog posts over the years, and yet, they are also a stranger to you in many ways.  But you quickly get over that as you start to talk about common ground - which with Stefano and me was running with injuries (or not running with injuries in my case), kids, grandkids, travelling, and politics.   Stefano in person is just like he comes across in his blog - intelligent, kind and funny.  And a very dedicated runner.  I'm so glad we got to meet!

Kid-Friendly and Healthy Vegetarian Lasagna

When I decided to go vegetarian seven years ago, one of the biggest challenges was reconciling my

conviction that a vegetarian diet was best for our health, with the taste preferences of three growing boys and an omnivore (but thankfully very flexible) husband.   After a lot of trial and error, my lasagna recipe is one I can say I have finally “gotten just right” – the kids are always happy to find out that it’s on the menu for dinner and the leftovers are gobbled up the next day.   And I’m happy because I’ve snuck in veggies they normally wouldn’t eat (sometimes I even throw a handful of chopped spinach in with the tomato sauce) and am putting a healthy meal on the table.

So when I saw that one of my favorite vegetarian cooking blogs (Lisa's Kitchen along with Tinned Tomatoes) was calling for readers to contribute their favorite lasagna recipes this month as part of a monthly "Pasta Please" challenge, I felt like it was the perfect time to share.

Amy’s Kid-Friendly Vegetarian Lasagna

(makes 9 servings @ 325 calories per serving)

Ingredients:

For the vegetable filling:

1 T olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 medium courgette (zucchini), grated

2 small carrots, grated

½ t each dried basil and oregano

Dash of turmeric and black pepper

1 pkg (180 g) Alpro Soya soy mince (or other vegetarian ground “meat” substitute)

1 jar (500 g) basil-tomato pasta sauce

For the béchamel:

50 g. margarine

50 g. flour

1 t salt

¼ t pepper

Dash of nutmeg

700 ml of plain unsweetened soy milk

15 no-boil lasagna noodles

150 g. grated mozzarella (either skip entirely or use vegan cheese for a vegan version)

Preheat the oven to 180° C/375° F.

First prepare the vegetable filling: fry the chopped onion in a skillet in the oil gently until softened.  Add the courgette and carrots, basil, oregano, turmeric, and pepper and stir-fry until well combined.  Add the soy mince and pasta sauce and stir well.  Lower heat and simmer while you make the béchamel.

In a saucepan, melt the margarine over low heat.  Add the flour and stir to obtain a thick paste.  Add the seasonings and soy milk (I usually heat my soy milk in the microwave before this step to save a bit of time), raise the heat and stir with a whisk until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken.

In a 13x9 inch baking dish, spread a thin layer of vegetable filling on the bottom.  Follow with three lasagna noodles, one next to the other.  Then spread 1/4^th of the remaining vegetable filling covered with about ¾ cup of béchamel.  Repeat with noodles, vegetable filling and béchamel three more times, until you have three noodles left to place on top.  Cover the last layer of noodles with grated mozzarella, and then the remaining béchamel.

Bake 35-40 minutes until bubbling and browned on top.  Enjoy!